Michielsen was a Dutch controleur (controller) — a civil colonial official — serving in Atjeh in 1876, attached by the civil and military commander to military punitive and inquiry columns in the VI Moekims.
The Pantjoer investigation (April 1876)
After the ambush of 7 April, Michielsen accompanied the column of Major Jeltes into the VI Moekims to conduct a strict inquiry into what had happened in kampong Lambaroe. It produced, as usual (Meijer’s dry comment), nothing but conjectures — with the single certain result that one Hadji Aboe of the kampong had taken part in the attack; his house was burned.
The Lampagar inquiry (May 1876)
After the disaster of 2–3 May, he went with Major Boom to Lampagar for a new inquiry. Five neighbourhood heads — among them Hadji Soliman — were summoned; Michielsen’s first conviction, that heads and people had had a hand in the enemy’s plan, led to the arrest of all the heads and the burning of the kampongs Lamtjoet and Lambaroe as punishment. To prevent the flight of the kampong population of Lampagar itself, he caused it to be announced that flight would likewise count as enmity and would be followed by fire; the daily fortification labour on the new work was laid on the population. When a wounded prisoner of 4 May told of the plotting of Panglima Moeda of Piëng, Michielsen came to the opposite conviction — that the heads had sufficiently warned the officers — and released them, warning that flight would again be followed by the burning of their houses. His inquiry and its reversals are preserved by H. F. Meijer in Atjeh van 26 December 1875 tot 4 September 1876 (1883).
See Also
- Koewala Pantjoer patrol ambush (7 April 1876)
- Night attack on Lampagar (2-3 May 1876)
- Lampagar
- Guerilla warfare in Groot-Atjeh
Source
Atjeh van 26 December 1875 tot 4 September 1876, door H. F. Meijer (Breda: P. B. Nieuwenhuijs, 1883), chapter VII, pp. 156, 176–179.